


Leave is Possible

by GrrKami



Series: All the Outs [1]
Category: Oxenfree (Video Game)
Genre: Alex deserves therapy, Alex has issues, Angst, Clarissa doesn't mean much, Death, Definitely suffering, I dare y'all to ask for a happy ending, I want you to cry, Jonas is vibing, Literally just imagine longing looks, Major character death - Freeform, Ren/Jonas if you want, Time Loop, Zero chance of a happy ending, gay if you squint, like a lot of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24397726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrrKami/pseuds/GrrKami
Summary: It was the same story as always. The ghosts of those who died on the ship stood before her once again. Their voices all fighting for dominance in the one body they managed to take.“Let us have this one and you can all go free”
Relationships: Alex & Jonas (Oxenfree), Alex & Ren, Jonas & Ren (Oxenfree), Nona/Ren (Oxenfree)
Series: All the Outs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813990
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	Leave is Possible

It was the same story as always. The ghosts of those who died on the ship stood before her once again. Their voices all fighting for dominance in the one body they managed to take.

“Let us have this one and you can all go free”

Metal creaked in the distance as yet another seam was ripped. It was the same scene. Alex stared out at the ocean before her, accessible by the small window in time. It was nice for a moment. She simply sat and watched as the ship came down, having seen it time and time again.

_ Fuck this _

The lost souls of the canaloa droned on, “Just let us have this one. We will take her but we will let all of your friends go.” Clarissa’s body slowly rose from its spot, head falling limply to the side. It was… horrific. 

“She’ll like it better here,” They spoke again, except this time it was just Clarissa. Her voice was the only thing binding Alex at that moment. They locked eyes, something of a challenge in Clarissa’s eyes.

Except this has happened before. It happens every fucking day. Alex has gone through this exact moment in time countless days in a row. Her body is begging to just be freed from all of the pain and the stress yet she can’t leave. She has been cursed with the burden of being the only one to remember.

She’s seen them all die. So many times that she can’t unsee it. The scenes play in her head every time she closes her eyes. It’s her fucking curse and it’s all because she wanted to be a teenager.

“I’m not leaving her here. I can’t,” Alex is surprised to find that her voice even works. “Why can’t you just let us go?” The pure desperation must have seeped through her voice. The ghosts only laugh at her. It never changes. She can do as much as she wants but nothing will ever change.

“Our time was ripped away from us-“

“You had your time! You lived your life! Let us live ours!” Except it’s all been said before. All of it. Everything is just like reading through a script. It’s all a fucking nightmare she can’t wake up from. Nothing is real. She’s trapped.

_ Trapped _

_ I’m just trapped _

Alex can feel herself start to shake all over again. It’s cold. She’s so fucking cold, but there’s no escaping. Not unless she gives up. Unless she lets everyone go, but she’s been here for so long. All of this would have been for nothing. Fighting them, running, making friends, meeting Jonas. All of that would have been for nothing.

_ I can’t lose another brother _

_ He already lost his mom, now he’s gonna lose everything all over again _

She lets her finger run through the sand beneath her. It’s soothing in a way. It almost makes her forget the task at hand. It’s almost like she’s on the beach again.

“We’ll give you time to make your decision, child.” It’s not Clarissa this time. Her body but not her consciousness. The many voices all tripping over themselves to gain control. All those voices just wanting to be heard one last time. Clarissa’s smile faltered and something flickered in her eyes, quickly overtaken by the ghosts.

Alex looks her over before laying herself on the sand. The waves resounded throughout the prison of time. Her blue hair scattered against the sand while she absently traces patterns in the sand. It always seems to end up the same though. She can trace and trace but it will always come back to her friends. It doesn’t take long for Alex to slowly drift off, her mind replays what could be her last memories.

_ “There’s this girl Nona- I like her”  _

_ She frowns and stares at her childhood friend, “I can be cool! I’m like the coolest guy ever. And Jonas is pretty cool too. Right, Jonas?” The boy in question just chuckles and shrugs. How the fuck is he supposed to know? _

_ Ren, however, rolls his eyes and trudges on, “I just wanna make this work okay? Just please don’t be weird.” _

_ Alex stops in her tracks to look him over. She could do this for him. Even though it won’t matter in the end. At least he’ll be happy for the time being. Ren won’t remember this. Jonas won’t either. Only she will. Like it’s always been. _

_ “Uh- Alex? You good?” It’s Jonas this time. He’s ahead with Ren and the others. “You kinda spaced out on me there.” It was nice. Having someone to look after her. She missed having a brother. She missed the entire concept of having someone else to fucking rely on and since Micheal was gone… Jonas was the next best thing.  _

_ “Yeah. Jonas, I’m fine. I just zoned out” They buy it. Clarissa and Nona are already talking about the boys' ears off. Almost like nothing had changed. Almost. _

_ Alex’s next step forward results in the floor swallowing her up. The screams of her friends echo around her as she plummets. Then she’s drowning. There’s water all around her and there’s no way out. Clarissa is laughing at her. Nona just thinks she’s pitiful. Ren looks ashamed to know her. And Jonas. Poor fucking Jonas. He looks so scared. _

_ 1… _

_ 2… _

_ 3… _

_ Nona’s sitting on the other side of the rocks. Tears are running down her face and blood on her cheek. Ren isn’t there. Why isn’t he there? _

_ “Nona what are you doing here?” but Alex already knows the answer to that question. She knows that he’s gone. She knows that they took him again. After all of her time here, this is the one thing other than Jonas that never changes. This is the reality of her time here. The ghosts won’t let her leave without suffering first. They never have and they never will. _

_ Nona sits up slowly, almost like she’d done this before. She had. She turned to face Alex with the expression of someone who had seen things time and time again. She tries to ignore Ren’s body lying limply across the rocks. Alex can’t breathe. _

_ Jonas is the one to break the silence, “Ren! Nona what happened to Ren?” He didn’t like the guy at all but that doesn’t explain how that happened. How she LET it happen. _

_ Nona can barely even look at them, her eyes glued to the scene in front of her. She’s watching Ren’s body the entire time she speaks, “Ren- he’s- he had an accident, he- he died. I couldn’t…” She’s stumbling over her words with how quick she is to defend herself. The tears are falling from her eyes again while she stares at him. _

_ Alex can’t breathe. This was something she’d never get used to. She’ll never get used to watching his body hanging there. The blood dripping from his mouth never gets easier to watch, she can never look at his body. She takes a step back, her hands shaking as they reach up to cover her mouth. _

_ “What happened?” It’s Jonas again. Always Jonas. _

_ The scene before her changes again. Alex can barely hold in the scream as Ren’s body appears at her feet. There’s water dripping from his hair. He’s completely soaked and blue and purple and dead. She trips over herself trying to take a step back, falling directly into Jonas. _

_ “He- he drowned,” Nona speaks again, eyes still glued to Ren’s body. The tears falling from her face as she goes on. _

_ Alex wipes the tears from her eyes to a different sight. Rens at the top of the bridge with his arms outstretched.  _

_ “Stop! Nona stop!” She can’t breathe. It’s getting harder and harder to grasp the situation. This isn’t what she wanted. Why can’t she wake up? _

_ “He… took a fall” Nona’s eyes are glazed over now, staring straight at Alex as Ren falls forward and crashes onto the rocks below. They’re both frozen. Alex flinches at the sound of Ren’s body hitting the rocks. The awful thud replays in her head. There’s a brief crunch at his bones cracking.  _

_ She reaches up, raking her fingers through her hair and tugging at the blue strands. Not again. She can’t do it again. Jonas doesn’t speak, there’s nothing to say. Is this karma? _

_ “I don’t know, he just… he just stopped.” Nona stares, shaking slightly. She doesn’t know what happened. They don’t see what Alex sees. They didn’t see Ren die over and over again. _

_ And suddenly, Alex can’t take it any longer. Her mouth opens and before she can stop it, she screams.  _

_ “SHUT UP” _

_ Her vision goes white like it always does. The world around her changes while she stays the same. Not a single sound is heard. Not even the birds chirp in her hell. This is what it’s like to be truly alone. _

_ 1… _

_ 2… _

_ 3… _

_ She’s at the foot of the cave again. Jonas is running into the cave again. Nothing is ever gonna be the same. “Jonas! Jonas come back!” Nothing but echoes. _

_ “Godamnit Jonas! I’m gonna kill you!”  _

_ Echo… echo… echo _

_ Alex cups her hands around her mouth and shouts one more time, “Jonas! Joonas where are you!”  _

_ There is a pause before she hears it, the voice that she had grown oh so fond of during her eternal stay at Edwards Island. She watches as he walks back over to her and away from that godforsaken portal. He’s the same as always. _

_ “Sorry I just thought I heard something down there. Can you- Can you come check it out with me?” His voice has a small echo to it. “I feel like it’s important.” He reaches up to scratch the back of his head, another thing that Alex had grown used to.  _

_ Alex blinks for a second and he’s gone. The only thing left of him is the beanie. She reaches down to pick it up, a sob reaching her throat. This isn’t fair. They’re just trying to live out the trip. Everything is moving too fast again. The world is changing around her and the air is changing and she can’t see anything. Even with the wind racing and the world going back in time her grip on the beanie never loosened. If she let go even for a second then it’d be gone all over again. She’d lose everything. _

_ 1… _

_ Please… _

_ 2… _

_ Please just stop… _

_ 3… _

She opens her eyes after a minute. It’s bright. Way too bright for where she just was. She’s standing again, in front of the entire group this time, except Jonas.

“Alex? Was it something we said?” Ren takes a step towards her.

Alex can’t help it when she looks him over just to make sure she’s seeing it right. She pulls him into a hug. “Stop being stupid Ren. You’re not allowed to go anywhere from now on. I can’t- just don’t leave please.” 

Ren looks around at the others around him before answering, “I won’t. I promise.” They pull away shortly after. It’s not her fault she’s so fucked up over what happened. Alex wipes her eyes with a sniffle before turning to Nona and Clarissa. They look the same as always. Especially Nona.

Clarissa seems to give her a look before looking down at what she’s holding. “Um… Alex? How’d you get that?” Alex follows her gaze and stares down at the beanie in her hands. 

“Jonas. Where is he?” They don’t answer. They look everywhere but at her. “Guys. Where’s Jonas?”

The silence is deafening. She tries to bait an answer from Ren. Nothing happens. She looks to Clarissa and gets the same thing. Lastly, she looks to Nona. There’s something in her eyes that Alex doesn’t like. She’s seen it before.

“Nona. Where’s Jonas.” 

The three of them stare ahead at her and suddenly everything makes sense. She doesn’t want to listen to what they say. She can’t hear it again.

“Jonas, he’s- he had an accident, he- he died. We couldn’t…” It starts with just Nona speaking. She’s not looking at her but rather something behind her. This wasn’t the plan. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“He drowned,” Their voices speak in unison, all distorted by the ghosts. 

Alex raises her arms in retaliation to the three of them being possessed all over again. She can only step back as they rise limply into the air, she trips over something behind her. Her eyes immediately lock onto the spot in front of her. 

“Jo… nas?” Her tone is bordering on hysteria. There he is. Jonas’s body is right in front of her now. He’s soaked from head to toe. She reaches out to shake him. “Jonas, buddy, get up. Wake up.” The longer she looks, the more distorted the image becomes. Jonas’s body morphs into something- no someone else. Reality comes crashing down all too soon. Alex isn’t staring at her stepbrother anymore. Instead it’s just her brother. It’s just… Micheal.

“He took a fall.” They sound angry now. Their voices all mixed as one and their eyes were slowly overtaken by the red glow. Their bodies slowly arching in the air, they weren’t themselves anymore. 

Alex stared up at them, “No shut up. Stop!” 

Jonas appeared again, standing at the edge of the cliff. His arms outstretched as he stared over at the rocky shore beneath him. The waves still beating harshly against the cliff. He doesn’t give a warning for when he slowly leans over and falls.

Alex can’t move. If she moves then she’d have to let Micheal go all over again. “Jonas!” She can only watch as he falls. Her eyes simply follow him as he falls. Alex lets out a broken sob when he hits the rocks, the thud is unmistakable. Her hand reaches up to cover her mouth. “No no no no.”

“I don’t know. He just... he just stopped.” The air runs cold and the breeze only gets harsher. Alex looks up to see Jonas, he’s just standing there. He stares down at her for a moment. She can’t help but take notice of his missing beanie. 

He reaches out a hand to help her out. She shouldn’t have fallen for it. It was all a sick joke anyways. A game that she’d never win. Alex reaches out to take his hand, all hope of ever getting out of here being crushed when he disappears.

She stays there on the floor for a moment. She can’t win. No matter how smart she was. It’d never amount to anything here. This was a game that she’d lose every fucking time. They’d be stuck here forever. Unless she gave up. Unless she let them have Clarissa.

“Fine you win. I’ll play your stupid game,” She’s defeated. The scene around her fades and her friends disappear. This includes the very much dead Jonas in her arms. Eternal torture all ended with the snap of their fingers.

Alex looks around at the sand around her before looking up at Clarissa. “You guys were people once, weren’t you? You lived and you died. So please tell me how taking us solves anything.”

“Our time was ripped away from us-“

“You had your time! You lived your time! You’ve existed as nothing since then because you’re just like children.”

“You don’t know how scary it is!” The voices all overlap each other with an intensity to match the sun's heat. Their sheer anger is enough to shake the walls around them.

“Bullshit! You’ve made me watch my friends die over and over. You made me watch my brother die! That’s scary. You sat and you died and it was over. I have to sit and watch it happen over and over again! You can leave at any time! I can’t!” It’s almost a shame that she can’t see each expression. The only thing that is shown is Clarissa’s face morphing from one of anger to something else entirely.

Her body gestures wildly to their surroundings, “We’ve existed here for years. You of all people should know what it feels like to be trapped.”

Alex stares off at the ocean in front of her, “Then take me. They don’t know what happened tonight. They can still be normal.” She didn’t worry about what would happen after. As long as they got out. As long as they know who she did it for. 

They stop for a minute. The anger around them slowly dissipates. Alex doesn’t look at them, she knows what she has to do. Even if it means she doesn’t get to go home. She can feel the moment they leave Clarissa’s body and enter hers. It doesn’t hurt. It just feels cold.

_ She did it for them.  _

_ Jonas.  _

_ Ren. _

_ Nona. _

_ Clarissa. _

_ She just hoped they wouldn’t forget that… _

Jonas woke up on the boat back, sitting up and looking around at the people who got out. All he knew was that they were leaving, his beanie was missing, and his head hurt like a bitch. 

Ren seems to be the first person to notice seeing as he yanks Jonas by the collar and immediately starts bitching, “Shit, Jonas we thought you were dead for a second there. Don’t scare us like that.” 

“Yeah yeah. Whatever. Is everyone okay?” Jonas pushes the other boy off of him and stands up. He’s relieved to see that Nona and Clarissa seem to be alright. He can’t help but feel like they’re missing someone. He just doesn’t know who. None of this is right. Jonas looks back to the island, maybe as some sort of goodbye to the horrible experience.

The island doesn’t move or disappear like he wishes it would. It doesn’t issue one final attack on them. It just sits there, with the sun slowly rising over it. It’s almost peaceful. A figure stands on the edge of the island, somewhat of a sad presence. It doesn’t move or even speak at first. They simply stare as the boat goes. For a moment, it feels like they’re just staring at Jonas. It’s a dull red glow, sad in a way. There’s something so familiar in the way that it shifts on its feet and runs to the dock. Their red jacket just seems to fly behind them with the speed they’re taking off at. It isn’t human at all but it has the build of one.

“Jonas!” Its voice rings out across the dock. The figure catches everyone's attention at that moment. They’re all staring at it-  _ her _ . 

Jonas stares at her, the two locking eyes in some kind of stalemate. He doesn’t try to say anything at all. He just stares. The girl looks down at the floor for a moment and sniffles. She’s just standing there while they leave, knowing full well that it’s goodbye.

The girl only cups her hands around her mouth and lets out one last yell, “Don’t forget me!”

And just as the island becomes nothing but a dot on the horizon… Jonas remembers who they left behind.

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed !! I'll add some extra parts if y'all want.


End file.
